Montreal has a number of great food bloggers. One of the most passionate is Élise Desaulniers. She’s one of the few who focuses on the ethical side of eating, a subject about which she is very knowledgeable.
I chatted with Elise today. You can listen to our conversation (en français et en anglais) here.
We’ve been watching the Food Network’s “Eat Street” a lot lately.
You might say, food trucks have been on our minds.
As such, it was great to chat with Marc-Andre Leclair from Grumman 78. He and his cohorts are trying hard to get the city to pull its head out of its ass and allow food trucks to hit the streets.
He makes a few great points about trucks. Among the most salient: that barring trucks actually keeps a number of would be entrepreneurs from opening businesses, because the capital required to start up a truck – while not small – is LESS than the capital required for a conventional resto. Not good for a city that SHOULD be encouraging entrepreneurship.
Without further ado, CLICK HERE FOR THE AUDIO CLIP which is in French and English . Hope you enjoy and thanks again to M-A and Grumman 78
We love local agriculture. There is nothing like fresh produce grown nearby.
So we got pretty excited when we heard about Lufa Farms. They’re an urban farm, and they grow a wide variety of crops on a rooftop by Marche Central. Our shop is a dropoff point for their baskets, which you can sign up for at www.lufa.com
Why grow on a rooftop? Lufa Farms has a pretty solid and succinct answer:
Good farm land is disappearing fast. It’s either being lost to parking lots and commercial development or is being slowly poisoned by overuse of synthetic pesticides or herbicides. To make matters worse, good forests are being lost in an effort to make more farm land. That’s a lose-lose proposition.
The world’s population continues to grow yet arable farm land continues to diminish. Putting farms on roofs is way to ‘take back’ arable land lost to development. Our prototype 31,000 square foot farm will feed approximately 2000 people and provide them with an excellent selection of fresh and nutritious produce. Our future greenhouses will feed more. Every roof in the city should be able to do the same. Our farm is meant to prove that it’s possible and viable.
FAIT ICI wants to know … are you a label reader?
More and more marketers are taking advantage of individuals with busy on the go lifestyles and preying on good intentions. People trying to grab those last minute items at the end of the day, when low on steam are being taken advantage of. It is easy to reach for NATURAL or ORGANIC labeling over a regular option, but 9 times out of ten the difference in ingredients is negligible. Companies will often just rearrange the order of the ingredients and slap on a higher price tag.
CBC Marketplace recently reviewed several products that were guilty of lying or as they called it LOUSY LABELS
This is a perfect opportunity to point out a company that is doing it the right way & taking immense pride in pointing out the good …
Smith Farms all natural skin care a Montreal based business consisting of two sisters that are taking things to the next level, with exquisite skin care products that feel as good as they smell.
Whats amazing about there products is not only the quality but the sheer transparency the girls are trying to promote. When using organic ingredients the percentage is clearly defined.
The good news is the goodness just keeps on coming! Smith Farms has just come out with two new products for the face …
In a world of buyer beware we are lucky to have a business like Smith Farms popping up, to bring a little ease, enjoyment and honesty back into our shopping experience.
I used to work in politics. During my time, I worked on two national election campaigns, in the War Room. This provided invaluable learnings about media, news and communications.
When I started out, my boss – referring to the way I presented information or created content – often said “Jackson, you have to be more political.”
“Be more political” is a euphemism for bending reality a certain way and upping the rhetorical quotient. In practice, it means injecting drama and righteous indignation into situations.
This kind of rhetoric and the accompanying behaviour from politicians IS the primary reason so many people are disconnected from politics and the political process. It’s pernicious.
All signs indicate that there is an election coming up. “Being political” will get in the way of real issues, but, here are a few things I wish candidates, parties, and the media would examine. They are of real concern:
I wish I could say “being political” would not get in the way. Alas, bombast, vitriol and pettiness will likely rule the day as per usual.
Are there issues you’d like to see discussed in the election that seems increasingly likely? If so, please leave a comment.
